Midlife reality-check.
I guess this is an idea that crosses almost 75% of the crowd in the corporate world. Everybody dreams, at least momentarily, of leaving their job and doing something else. This could be termed a mid-life crisis, or the way I see it a mid-life reality check. Either way, the idea has progressed from a small thought somewhere in the back of my head that would surface mainly on lazy Sunday afternoons to a monstrous obsession that makes me subconsciously recalculate my finances every 5 minutes. I have read numerous blogs written by people who have conquered this crisis and emerged from it as happy/contented individuals, making their ends meet doing what they have always wanted to do and leading a dream life. These posts definitely egg you on, but unfortunately, each individual has to ultimately cross the bridge alone.
There are three different kinds of people. The first, know exactly what they want to do in life. They have a passion and an idea of how to work this into a job that would let them manage their finances and live fruitfully. The second, may or may not have a dream but they are resigned to the fact that they need the income from their current jobs and have trained themselves to be content with their station. Both these groups belong to the lucky few. The majority of folks I know - including myself , belong to the third category, we are bored of our jobs and want to move on to something else, something more "exciting", but we are stuck with the mother of all questions - what next? We do have hobbies, but passions?.
When deciding to quit or to take a break, finance might not be the biggest of your worries. Finance is just a question of numbers, you decide how much you would need and if you don't have it you figure out a way to get it. I believe that this is a relatively straightforward problem with a clear yes or no answer.
The bigger issue is living without a designation. Does your designation define you?. I'm used to introducing myself as somebody who works for XYZ Corp. What am I if I don't have a job?. Will I get the same respect?. In a world where money determines everything will my bank executive, my doctor, my carpenter, even my parents treat me the same?. I am used to being good at certain things, used to having a skill - an area of expertise, and with 15 years of experience used to telling people what to do and being heard (more often than not). The corporate world somehow gives you that illusionary feeling of being needed. Can I live without that?. These are questions that will be answered only if I bite the bullet, and is possibly reason enough to quit the job. I would like to have a sense of self that goes beyond my designation or my bank balance. This leads me to the more cliched but nevertheless important questions - Who really am I? What do I really like? What are my priorities?. What makes me happy?. These are questions that take a lifetime to answer and mid-life is probably not a bad time to start. It is going to take a lot of courage on my part and I am bracing myself for a few years of self-doubt, misery, and failures but I hope to at least give myself a chance to live before I die.
I guess this is an idea that crosses almost 75% of the crowd in the corporate world. Everybody dreams, at least momentarily, of leaving their job and doing something else. This could be termed a mid-life crisis, or the way I see it a mid-life reality check. Either way, the idea has progressed from a small thought somewhere in the back of my head that would surface mainly on lazy Sunday afternoons to a monstrous obsession that makes me subconsciously recalculate my finances every 5 minutes. I have read numerous blogs written by people who have conquered this crisis and emerged from it as happy/contented individuals, making their ends meet doing what they have always wanted to do and leading a dream life. These posts definitely egg you on, but unfortunately, each individual has to ultimately cross the bridge alone.
There are three different kinds of people. The first, know exactly what they want to do in life. They have a passion and an idea of how to work this into a job that would let them manage their finances and live fruitfully. The second, may or may not have a dream but they are resigned to the fact that they need the income from their current jobs and have trained themselves to be content with their station. Both these groups belong to the lucky few. The majority of folks I know - including myself , belong to the third category, we are bored of our jobs and want to move on to something else, something more "exciting", but we are stuck with the mother of all questions - what next? We do have hobbies, but passions?.
When deciding to quit or to take a break, finance might not be the biggest of your worries. Finance is just a question of numbers, you decide how much you would need and if you don't have it you figure out a way to get it. I believe that this is a relatively straightforward problem with a clear yes or no answer.
The bigger issue is living without a designation. Does your designation define you?. I'm used to introducing myself as somebody who works for XYZ Corp. What am I if I don't have a job?. Will I get the same respect?. In a world where money determines everything will my bank executive, my doctor, my carpenter, even my parents treat me the same?. I am used to being good at certain things, used to having a skill - an area of expertise, and with 15 years of experience used to telling people what to do and being heard (more often than not). The corporate world somehow gives you that illusionary feeling of being needed. Can I live without that?. These are questions that will be answered only if I bite the bullet, and is possibly reason enough to quit the job. I would like to have a sense of self that goes beyond my designation or my bank balance. This leads me to the more cliched but nevertheless important questions - Who really am I? What do I really like? What are my priorities?. What makes me happy?. These are questions that take a lifetime to answer and mid-life is probably not a bad time to start. It is going to take a lot of courage on my part and I am bracing myself for a few years of self-doubt, misery, and failures but I hope to at least give myself a chance to live before I die.
